Unit Base Education Program

In the Federal Prison System, classes are taught through the Education Department. Due to budget cuts, the only two classes required by law are GED and English as a second language. There are other educational programs offered by the education department such as: VT(Vocational training), a certification from the experience of your prison job; - Adult education, classes taught by inmates who volunteer to share their knowledge and experiences with other inmates, and Self-taught videos or computer classes. Other departments such as psychology, religious services, food services, recreation department, etc. offer classes or groups taught by staff or contractors.

The Unit Team, which is composed of a counselor, case manager, and unit manager also sometimes volunteer their services to teach or lead different groups. I truly like when the Unit Team offers classes (other than religious classes) because we have the opportunity to interact with our unit team on a more personal level than just on a paperwork level. I remember years ago when I took a class with a counselor that I did not have a good relationship with and at the end of the class she changed her views about me and our relationship changed for the good.

When our unit manager was transferred to this camp, he implemented a program called: UNIT BASE EDUCATION PROGRAM. The program has been a success. Even though I have disagreements with my unit manager, I recognize that he cares enough about prisoner's education, and I respect him for that. The unit base education program are classes that are taught by inmates in a variety of subjects such as: credit awareness, paralegal, basic algebra skills, job interviews, money smart, credit report, as a women thinketh, resume writing, employment skills, etc.

I volunteered my services to teach: "Marketing Strategies." I love that subject. It amazes me how marketing advertising experts combine psychology, science, techonogy, trends, culture, place, weather, color, human needs and weaknesses, etc. to persuade our minds to feel the desire or neccesity to buy their products or to vote for a candidate. I taught my students (one class in English and one class in Spanish) about: -How to research the markets, customers, competition, and industry; How to advertise: T.V., radio, newspaper, creative campaign, word of mouth, telemarketing, direct mail, one-on-one, etc; -The marketing variables: products, packaging, price, place, and promotions; and -How to prepare a sales plan. I truly enjoyed teaching that class. I was asked to volunteer to teach another class in that program called: "Keeping Connected." It was a type of AA group in which we share our experiences in how we can keep our bonds with our children due to long years of separation because of incarceration. I did not know how hard it was going to be for me to teach that class, talk about my history as a prisoner and a mother, and answer questions to my fellow prisoners. It is a draining process. I cried through the entire two day session, class after class, and I have the feeling that it is the same for the students, because a few of them have written good comments about the class. Vanessa wrote:" I was in attendance of the first 'keeping connected' class, and I would like to thank you and the 3 ladies that held the class. That class brought me and my daughter to a new level. When I first got here, I was so bitter, and I did not realize that I took it out on my child at times. The ladies in the class taught me so many different approaches to keeping connected to my child while I am in prison. Well, what I am trying to say is that whoever is in charge of that class, 'WELL DONE.' I hope from time to time we have more classes like this one".

The prisoners are allowed to write their comments about any class, and I have never seen so many good comments about a class taught by prisoners. That convinced me more that we need to do something about the alarming increased rate of women (mothers) in prison. I hope society agrees with me and realizes that we need help.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo)

Feel free to share this or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

When The Best Is The Worst

"Betrayal at its worst" was the title of one editorial article from the Orlando Sentinel newspaper Friday July 7-06. Rarely you see a newspaper editorial criticizing prison officials or "a prison system out of control", but the abuses inside our prisons are so egregious that the media cannot keep a blind eye toward prison abuse any longer. The article talks about the guilty plea of Mr. James Crosby, a former Florida prison chief and another prison official Allen Clark for taking bribes (kick backs) from vending company Keefee that provided commissary for prisoners and from another company running a separate canteen for prison visitors (prisoner's families). The article also said: "state investigators also have charged 8 others in connection with stealing recycling material from the agency or using inmate labor for personal projects".

This news may be new to the society but not to us (prisoners). Almost every prisoner in this country federal, state and county knows about Keefee products and how the products sold in prison commissary are sometimes expired and/or marked "not for sale" but we pay full price for it with the pennies per hour that we make from our slave labor; with no right to exchange and/or reimburse our money. We also know how our family is cheated by the high prices of the food they sell to our visitors. We also know that prison officials not only steal recycling material, they also steal/destroy and/or misuse prison's factory materials and even government properties; and what about using inmate labor for personal projects? I will not have enough paper to state all the examples of this abuse.

Reading about Mr. Crosby's crime a week after the Tallahassee Gunfight and reading the May issue of Prison Legal News was very devastating for me. It took me a few days to recovery. I keep asking myself: "when will the abuse stop?"; "How far is this going to go?"; "will the society open its eyes on time?"; "what can I do"?; "How can I help my sons?". I read from the Prison Legal News that: - Janice Koonte and Colleen Jordan, two employees of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, used prisoner's social security numbers obtained from their job to fraudulently file false income tax returns in the name of the prisoners; - Major Joseph Glynn Jr. the deputy warden of the Philadelphia Prison system, embezzled money from the inmate accounts. And what about Robert, a severely mentally disabled teenager, and an orphan with the mind of an infant who is a 15-year old that wears diapers and plays with blocks. Guards in Robert's Tallahassee juvenile detention center were unable to care for him. Their solution: they assigned a 17-year-old accused violator to bathe, clothe, and change Robert's diaper. Robert was repeatedly raped. - More and more cases of sexual abuse to inmates, juveniles and females, brutality, medical neglect, etc, etc.

But the article that shocked me the most was about Dominick Labruzzi, a captain at Riker's Island juvenile jail that sexually assaulted several teenage boys under his custody. All the victims were "young spanish kids, no facial hair, curly black hair, very innocent looking...". I said to myself: "Oh Lord please keep my boys be safe and out of trouble". I feel sorry for the mothers of those boys and girls that are sexually or physically abused inside our prisons. The majority of those teenagers enter prison due to addiction or mental problems and the family can not afford to send them for treatments.

At the beginning of my incarceration while my sons were visiting me, an officer opened the children's play room (to count us) and my youngest son was behind the door. When the officer brutally opened the door, my son fell on the floor, and another officer told him: "you hit the kid"; the officer's reply was: "that's ok, he will get use to it because he will end up in prison like his mother and he will pay for my son's college by securing me a job". I could not say anything (I am not allowed to). I lifted my son off the floor. He was just over one year old and he was crying. I held him against my heart and I said to him: "I promise you that I will do whatever I can to save you from prison. This unkind human will eat his words". Everytime that I read about the abuses in our juvenile prisons I remember that day.

Sexual, physical and mental abuse; slave labor; stealing our money; our social security; robbing us and our families through high phone rates and food prices; medical neglect; no religious or freedom of speech; killing agents; suicides; cover-ups; brutality; and much more. I wonder what is next?. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial said that the corrupt government officials owed an apology to the Florida citizens; however the editorial does not mention the apology also owed to the prisoners and their families. When the best law-abiding citizens who we trusted to rehabilate criminals are the worst criminals; we can honestly say that: WHEN THE BEST IS THE WORST,WE ARE ALL LOST. "Betrayal at its worst" is not enough.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo)

Feel free to share this article or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Meredith

Meredith is a female black labrador that I puppysat for a while. I almost cried when she left 2 weeks ago, and I am still missing her. Meredith was a participant in a program at Coleman Camp called "IMPACT" in which female prisoners train dogs for blind people. The dogs are from Southeastern Guide Dog (SEGD) in Palmetto, Florida. It is an excellent program in which prisoners can give something back to society. I believe in the program and I applied to be a puppy raiser but I was accepted as a puppysitter.

I went through the training in which we learned the basic commands for the dogs such as: sit; down; stay; come; doors(when going through a door the puppy is to sit before you open and close the door); forward; busy, busy; big busy(to relieve); no; table under; etc. We also learn how to teach directional commands and the care and feeding of the puppies. I have puppysat a few puppies, but I never had the opportunity to take a puppy into my cubicle until Meredith arrived. The prisoner in charge of Meredith is a friend. I wrote about her before. She was the one who was driving the van when we have some Iraqi visitors a while ago Besides being my friend she is my neighbor, therefore for the first time, I had the opportunity to bring a puppy to my cubicle.

Meredith was very lovable and friendly with everybody. She was very intelligent too. She knew which cubicles she was welcome, she knew her raiser and her puppysitters well, she also knew that she could freely walk into my cubicle at any time. My friend would take her to our exercise or yoga class and Meredith would exercise with us and spread her legs, turn around, face up, face down right between us. When she was in my cubicle, I would throw myself on the floor with her, look into her eyes, & talk to her. Then she would lay on her back, legs open, for a full belly rub. She loved belly rubs. If I got tired and laid on my bunk, she would place her head on my bed near my face, and look at me, moving her tail, like trying to tell me that: "she wants to play" or "give me some attention, please." I heard her everyday in the morning when she got out of her kennel and stretched herself, nagging her tail and banging everything around her; I also heard her during the day when she was playing with her favorite toy: "the elephant squeaky." My friend wrote: "she is very nurturing-She had an elephant squeaky toy and if she could she would bring it with her everywhere. She carried it in her mouth squeezed it to make the squeaky noise and then played with it and slept with it under her head."

That squeaky noise brought sweet memories to my mind.When my son was less than 2 years old he loved to play with his yellow duck squeaky toy and I so enjoyed watching him. When I heard Meredith for the first time squeezing her elephant, my heart jumped to joy at the sweetness of that squeaky noise that I had not heard in 10 years. It was like I was alive again. I definitely did not want her to leave. But the day came and my friend wrote: "I knew the day would come when I would have to turn her over to Southeastern for more training- I dreaded that day when it came but I knew deep down inside that she was destined for greater things... The person who gets Meredith will be blessed for the days to come... take care of my precious baby girl for she will take care of you." I hugged Meredith endlessly. She made me realize how much I was in need of hugs and that the road has been too long ( as you may know we are not allowed to give or receive hugs in prison). More than 10 years without a hug on a regular basis destroys human emotions and feelings. We become dehumanized and we live like robots, but Meredith brought life back to some of those caring, nurturing human feelings that were asleep inside me.

It is an important human emotion to be able to express freely the emotions that we have been forced to suppress for the duration of our incarceration. These emotions are what make us feel alive.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo).
Feel free to share to quote this article. You can write me at:

Yraida L. Guanipa #44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Tallahassee Gunfire Incident

The Tallahassee Gunfire incident was not what I had planned to write about this week, but the news was so shocking that I chose to postpone what I had already written.

Sudan Hussain, nor the 6 suspected terrorists arrested in Miami this week reacted like the BOP employee Mr. Hill reacted when he was going to be arrested. I am sure our federal government is very upset and I have the feeling that this week's US Supreme court ruling in Sheila White's case in which the highest court broadened the scope of what constitutes actions of retaliation for reporting sexual harrassment at work was tainted by the emotions from the Tallahassee gunfire incident.

Now, just think for a minute, if shooting is the way that "SOME" of the BOP employee treat their superiors, I am sure you may wonder how they treat those female prisoners like me that do not participate in their sexual abuse. I ask Coleman authorities not to retaliate against me for writing about this subject, but I feel it in my burning heart's desire to speak out. Not all BOP's employees are like Mr. Hill or his co-defendants. There are a lot of caring, honest and compassionate staff inside our federal prisons. There are male and female staff members at Tallahassee that I do respect and that I will always be thankful and grateful towards them.

Last time that I was in Tallahassee in 2002, I got very sick and was rushed to the hospital, then admitted for 5 days. My Unit manager at the time, Ms. Southerland, went to visit me every day after work. She took time from her family to just sit in front of my hospital bed, assuring me that everything was going to be ok. She brought me my mail, called my family, and secured my property, etc. The warden assistant, Mr. Dowd, told the hospital authorities to take care of me, no matter how long or how expensive the cost would be. The captain and lieutenant ordered the officer not to shackle or handcuff me to bed. Also, Mr. James in the educational department, helped me and cared for my college classes and gave me a very special recognition on my college graduation day. My supervisors, Mrs. Herderson at Education and Mr. Wiggins at A.D.P., treated me with respect and valued my work ethics.

Unfortunately, there are many staff members like Mr. Hill and their group, and a very high percentage of staff members that keep a blind eye and/or cover the abuse. The sexual abuse of prisoners (female, males and juveniles) and contraband inside our (federal, state and overseas) prisons is nothing new, and indeed, part of our daily life. At the beginning of my incarceration while I was at Tallahassee, my 19 year old bunkie showed me a cigarette made of marijuana in our cubicle. I was scared to death. That was the first time in my life that I saw and was so close to a marijuana cigarette. The next day I reported her to the head of S.I.S. (Special Investigation Service). But instead of punishing her, I was the one that ended up being punished. My fellow prisoners and the unit officer found out that I had reported my bunkie and 2 of my fellow prisoners opened my locker and spread all my property around the hall. I ran to the unit officer and told him the incident and invited him to see my property scattered on the floor. He stood in front of the hall and screamed at me in front of everybody, "You will learn prison life and I am sure you will not snitch again." My 19 year old bunkie spent her 7 month sentence smoking marijuana inside prison (how sad).

Frustrated and strong enough to handle the retaliation, I reported the same abuses that all of you saw in the news this week. That 1996 report shall be somewhere in one of the Tallahassee FBI offices. Also there are hundreds of complaints/allegations of sexual abuse, retaliation and contraband filed by females prisoners at Tallahassee since 1996. Especially against Mr. Moore. I never thought that the abuse at FCI Tallahassee was going to have such of ignominious end. I am glad to know that my fellow female prisoners are finally speaking out and learning that those corrupt, unpatriotic officers are abusing them and violating the law instead of helping them to rehabilitate themselves and break the cycle of abuse and addiction that a lot of them suffered before coming to prison.

Those officers are destroying our government and placing our democracy at risk by making our society lose faith in our federal government (the most powerful government in the world). I never lost faith. I knew in my heart that there are a lot of good public servants in our government. I never gave-up and I complained for 10 years to sadly learn that an agent with guts to police the police like William Buddy Stener was killed. It is a tough job as his father said on TV. I am sure Mr. Stener (Buddy) was aware how tough his job was, but he was willing to serve our country by defending the reputation of our federal government. We lost a good public servant. My condolences to his family, especially his wife, mother and all his relatives. He was killed for defending federal female prisoners. It may take time, but justice will always prevail and it is my hope that from now on our voices will be heard. This incident opened the eyes of the bureaucracy and I believe the system will change because of it.
I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa

Feel free to share this article or to write me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027